Broken

• The author argues that the U.S. Supreme Court is dysfunctional and calls for Congress to reassert its constitutional duty to represent the public over special interests. • The piece claims that for decades, both Republicans and Democrats have avoided political accountability by delegating their legislative powers to the president and administrative agencies. • This shift is framed as a systemic failure where lawmakers "pass the buck" to avoid taking controversial stands that could negatively impact their reelection campaigns.

• EU member states are struggling to manage migration following a volatile summer highlighted by the crisis in Ceuta. • Tensions have risen over the stability of the Schengen Area, leading to the reintroduction of internal border checks and disputes over return hubs. • This instability underscores a breakdown in solidarity among member nations regarding the fair redistribution of migrants across the bloc.

• Dr. Vinay Prasad discusses his departure from the FDA and his critique of the agency's broken public health infrastructure. • He highlights a specific instance where a drug was approved via an override memo by a single official, despite opposition from hundreds of expert staff who cited lack of efficacy and potential harms. • Prasad explains that his experiences within the government have shifted his political perspective toward libertarianism, citing systemic failures in regulatory oversight.

Investor loan applications may have fallen since the start of the year, but the slump already appears to be turning aroundGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIgnore the doomsday warnings about the government’s tax changes – property investing in Australia is a little bruised, but it’s far from broken.The country’s biggest mortgage lender, Commonwealth Bank, reported a bumper $11bn full-year cash profit on Wednesday, backed by robust demand for its lending products, especially mortgages. Continue reading...

Parent-carers of disabled children are exposed to chronic levels of extreme stress and often reach crisis point before help is available – then they face a ‘fight for basic support’, experts say. This is Matilda Davis’s storyTwo days before she died, Matilda Davis issued a plea on Facebook. Sharing a study that found more than 40% of parent-carers had considered suicide, she called for “greater awareness, action and change” in Britain’s broken social care system. “This speaks the words I can’t,” she wrote.Matilda, known as Tilly to her family and friends, had spent years battling for support in a regime that close observers and those who rely on it often say is increasingly confusing, fragmented and difficult to navigate. Continue reading...

Kai Sato used PVC pipes and kayak paddles to try to repair his boat, and a plastic bag to collect condensation to drinkA California man was rescued alive drifting in his sailboat off Hawaii after spending 30 days stranded at sea.Kai Sato, 39, set sail from California’s Catalina Islands on 7 June hoping to complete his first solo sail across the Pacific Ocean, he told Hawaii News Now. But his journeytook a disastrous turn when his mast snapped, and the phone he was using for navigation died. Continue reading...

• Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders led a protest march to the Prime Minister's residence to condemn the NEET paper leak and subsequent police action against students. • The demonstration resulted in police detentions and dramatic scenes as law enforcement broke up the gathering, escalating the controversy into a direct political clash between the Congress and the BJP. • Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju stated that the Prime Minister urged all parties to ensure Parliament functions smoothly, maintaining that the government acted swiftly once the leak was discovered.

• The current vulnerability disclosure model is failing as more businesses integrate AI into their daily operational workflows. • Experts argue that the process for flagging security flaws to AI providers is broken and lacks the necessary commitment to responsibility. • This issue matters because inadequate disclosure protocols leave AI-driven systems exposed to risks that could compromise business security.

Businesses and traffic in West Hollywood doused after century-old pipe bursts belowgroundA century-old water pipe buried below a bustling boulevard in a Los Angeles county city burst early Thursday, sending a shock of water spewing into the streets and snarling traffic as several major roads shut down.The 36in riveted steel pipe’s rupture left a protruding sinkhole and cracked pavement in West Hollywood. Images of the aftermath showed local metro buses partially submerged in murky brown water. Continue reading...

• The United Nations is preparing for the selection of its next Secretary-General, a role critical for navigating current global instability. • African nations are expected to advocate strongly for the position, noting that the continent has not held the post since Boutros Boutros-Ghali served from 1992 to 1996. • This push for leadership is driven by Africa's disproportionate role in hosting UN peacekeeping missions and managing severe humanitarian, climate, and debt crises.

Expected next prime minister focuses on restoring faith in politics, cost of living and devolution in major speechAndy Burnham has set out his blueprint to transform the UK with a promise to improve living standards and restore faith in politics through the “biggest rebalancing of power our country has ever seen”.The person widely expected to be the next prime minister said the current system was “broken” and that “more of the same” would not be enough to tackle the significant challenges faced by the country.A long-term ambition of greater public control of essential services such as water, housing, energy and transport to help curb the cost of living.A No 10 North hub to oversee the distribution of power and resources from Whitehall across the country, which the Guardian revealed would be run by his former chief executive in Manchester.The biggest council housing building programme since the postwar period, and a high street “renaissance” through reform of business rates.Rebalancing an education system that he said had been too focused on the university route and putting academic and technical courses on an equal footing. Continue reading...

Plans to protect people fall ‘far short of what is needed’, government told, as MP warns of heatwave deathsUK politics live – latest updatesThe UK government is facing increasingly urgent calls for action to protect people against the intensifying effects of the climate crisis, as the highest maximum temperature record for June was broken for the third day in a row.With the country in the grip of the worst heatwave ever recorded in western Europe – a direct result of global heating – the chair of parliament’s environmental audit committee warned ministers of the urgent threat and said the UK was falling “far short of what is needed”. Continue reading...

• Afghanistan is facing a dire economic crisis nearly five years after the Taliban returned to power. • The collapse is driven by a combination of deep-rooted domestic structural failures and persistent regional geopolitical constraints. • This instability highlights the Taliban's inability to establish a functioning financial system or secure broad international legitimacy.

Thermometer shows 23.5C overnight in Welsh capital as climate crisis makes such extreme temperatures more severe and more likelyEurope live – latest updatesA sweltering night in Cardiff has broken another new UK heat record as brutally hot conditions continue across England and Wales. Temperatures only fell to 23.5C overnight in the Welsh capital, the Met Office said, making it the highest minimum temperature ever recorded in June.The UK’s high temperature record for June is also likely to be broken on Thursday, just a day after the previous record. The heatwave, supercharged by the climate crisis, drove the temperature to 36.1C at Gosport in Hampshire on Wednesday, beating the previous record of 35.6C set in Southampton in 1976. Continue reading...

• The traditional compact between American science and politics is fracturing, exemplified by budget hawks in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) pressuring NASA to implement broad buyouts and early retirement packages. • This political interference extends to research constraints, where scientists like Christopher Reynolds face potential project cancellations and funding instability. • An NSF director warns that researchers attempting to ignore critical variables such as ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status to secure grants will face rejection from peer reviewers.

• The 2026 FIFA World Cup has become the largest in history, featuring 48 teams and a record 1,248 registered players across 26-man squads. • For the first time, the tournament is co-hosted by three sovereign nations—the United States, Canada, and Mexico—spanning 39 days from June 11 to July 19. • The event boasts the largest prize pool in sports history at $727 million, with the winning federation earning $50 million and all participants receiving at least $10.5 million.

Ayoub Junaid, seven, given new pair but needs surgery as Gaza’s children remain unable to access treatmentA video of a seven-year-old Palestinian boy in Gaza who suffers from a severe visual impairment crying over his shattered glasses has drawn widespread attention across social and international media.The footage of Ayoub Junaid has shone a light on the plight of the many visually impaired children in Gaza who, because of Israel’s blockade and the devastation caused by the war, have been unable to access eye examinations, corrective lenses or specialist ophthalmic surgery. Continue reading...

• The 2026 World Cup in North America will feature an expanded tournament format, creating numerous opportunities for players to break long-standing historical records. • Spain's 18-year-old star Lamine Yamal is highlighted as a primary contender to challenge the record for the youngest Golden Boot winner. • The current record was set 16 years ago by a Bayern Munich forward who won the Golden Boot and Best Young Player award at age 20.

Some Iranians hoped foreign intervention would unseat the regime but instead the US-Israel war has damaged livelihoods and strengthened those in powerAs Donald Trump swung this week between threats of new military action against Iran and predictions that a lasting ceasefire deal was imminent, many Iranians were left exhausted and gripped by uncertainty.Despite the partial lifting of an internet shutdown that began when the war started on 28 February, fears of worsening repression at home have also fuelled pessimism about the future among some of those to whom the Guardian spoke. Continue reading...

Global events and the climate crisis have left Britain’s food system dangerously exposed and in desperate need of an overhaulThe news that the Treasury was asking UK supermarkets to cap price rises on essential foods was greeted with predictable squeals of horror this week. Supermarkets were reportedly “furious”, while luminaries from the former head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies to the former chair of M&S could be found harrumphing about the evils of price controls.But this caterwauling is a distraction from two unpleasant facts. Firstly, the food price surge over the summer and beyond is likely to be significant – and will come on top of a near-40% rise in the price of food since 2020 – due to a devastating combination of the Iran war and a forecast record-breaking El Niño, which will hammer global food production. And secondly, Britain’s food system is painfully exposed to such shocks. The long-held assumption that a global food system can be relied on to meet the nation’s needs, at a reasonable price, no longer applies. Continue reading...

Marsh Street has been cited as Bristol’s worst for potholes. But it’s just one of many crumbling roads in Britain as councils face repairs backlogs and lack of fundsMarsh Street in the historic centre of Bristol is a modest little stretch of road with an office block at one end, a Thai restaurant at the other, and an almighty mess in between.Along its length of 200 metres or so, the tarmac surface of the road is pockmarked with many dozens of cracks, patches, divots and holes. In some spots where the surface has worn away, three or more layers of road structure are exposed beneath. What is a bouncy enough ride in a bus or car is even more of an assault course for cyclists, a number of whom weave carefully down its length as they cut through the city centre. Continue reading...

Parliamentary rule that only English is allowed has reignited debate about language, legitimacy and postcolonial identityWhen the Jamaican MP Nekeisha Burchell stood up to give her maiden speech, she was keenly aware of how much her country’s parliament mirrored the Westminster version thousands of miles away in London.As in the UK, the session on 12 May had started with the arrival of the ceremonial mace – a 1.7-metre ornamented silver staff representing the British monarch’s authority over parliament – which now rested on a table between the government and the opposition. Despite the heat outside, debate was presided over by the speaker dressed in a ceremonial robe. Continue reading...

Ukrainians lament appalling toll of fighting on their country’s bird populationRussia sent kamikaze drones to attack the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia in February. They hit buildings and killed several people. One unreported victim of the bombardment was a male long-eared owl, blinded in one eye and found with a badly broken wing. A passerby scooped up the stunned bird, put him in a box and took him to the city of Dnipro.The owl – nicknamed Sunny – is now recovering in a cosy room belonging to Veronica Konkova. No longer able to fly or hunt, Sunny instead hops around. Continue reading...

Celeste Calocane gives evidence for first time at inquiry into Valdo Calocane’s 2023 attacksThe mother of the man who killed three people in an attack in Nottingham in 2023 has told an inquiry that the mental health “system is broken” and until there is a crisis “no one listens to you”.Valdo Calocane, who has paranoid schizophrenia, was sentenced to a suspended hospital order in January 2024 after killing students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Ian Coates, a 65-year-old caretaker, on 13 June 2023, and attempting to kill three others. Continue reading...

NHS experts and MPs say he ‘told a good story’ as health secretary while kicking the difficult cans down the roadUK politics live – latest updatesWes Streeting’s 22 months in office was characterised by relentless media interviews, newspaper editorials and Department of Health and Social Care press releases. They portrayed a dynamic health secretary who was clearing up the mess he inherited in the NHS, pushing ahead with radical changes and making progress on what matters most to patients – accessing care when they need it.Having initially declared the NHS “broken” – by the Conservatives – it is six months since he first declared that the health service was now, on his watch, “on the road to recovery” – a claim he has made regularly since. He included the gist of it again – a sort of greatest hits collection – in his resignation letter to Keir Starmer at lunchtime on Thursday. Continue reading...

Labor introduced condolence motions in parliament on Tuesday to honour the five-year-old who was allegedly murdered in Alice Springs last monthWarning: This article contains references to Indigenous Australians who have diedFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe mother of Kumanjayi Little Baby has directly asked politicians not to use the death of her daughter for “reasons that do not honour and respect my baby girl”.In a statement read out by the minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, in a condolence motion for the five-year-old Warlpiri girl in the Senate on Tuesday, the girl’s mother, who has not been named for her own safety, asked that her child not be used for political gain. Continue reading...

US president’s latest outburst comes a day after he suggested a possible reduction in US troops in GermanyWhy does the US have military bases in Germany – and will Trump follow through on his threat to cut numbers?Donald Trump has again lashed out at Germany’s chancellor Friedrich Merz, saying he should focus on “fixing his broken country” and trying to end the Russia-Ukraine war – and spend less time “interfering” in Iran.“The Chancellor of Germany should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine (Where he has been totally ineffective!),” Trump wrote in a social media post. Continue reading...